It Sure Can Get Cold in Des Moines

(Tom T. Hall)



The Iowa weather was thirteen below

I had come to Des Moines for a radio show

I awoke in the evening from a traveler's sleep

With notions of something to eat.



The old elevator slipped down past the floors

My head and my eyes said you should have slept more

The man at the desk said the restaurant was closed

Outside it was fourteen below.



The lounge was still open so I walked in

In place of my food I had two double gins

I looked round the room as a tourist would do

That's when I saw a girl in the booth.



She sat there and cried in the smoky half dark

The silent type crying that tears out your heart

Her clothes were not cut in the new modern way

And her suitcase had seen better days.



Nobody asked her what caused her such pain

Nobody spoke up yet no one complained

Without even asking I knew why she cried

Life is just like that sometimes.



The man at the desk said it's fifteen below

The bellhop said yeah man that's cold that's cold

I went back to my room and I wrote down this song

Oh it sure can get cold in Des Moines...